What's a Space Cowboy?
by Winblades
Summary: Vincent Valentine: a mysterious young man with little past.
1. Dinner!

The year is 2187. The massive warp gates had been in place for nearly a century now, providing access to even the most distant stars. Once, they had been marvels, people had paid millions of wulongs in order to travel to Saturn for a romantic evening above its icy rings. Now, however, the wonder has worn away, and they are being used as they intended: to shuttle humanity between the stars. They were nearly foolproof; there hadn't been an accident with a ship being lost in hyperspace or destroyed in decades. However, there are many rings that make up the gates, stretched across light years of space, and they cannot all be maintained properly and still make a profit...

* * *

    Faye Valentine sat in the lounge of the _Bebop_, munching stale potato chips and watching old tri-D holofilms. She was bored. She was also, as usual, broke. She brushed a strand of dark hair away from a nearly violet eye with her finger. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. When Spike had taken out the head of the Syndicate, a massive galactic organized crime network that even the military couldn't touch, they'd all become instant millionaires. His massive medical bills, though, had consumed most of Spike's reward. Coming back from the nearly dead was expensive. She'd blown most of hers gambling, after adding a few goodies to her ship.

_Why do I have to be so weak-willed? I know I should have invested that cash instead of blowing it, but it seemed like such a sure thing. At those odds, I could have tripled my fortune. Stupid horses._

She sighed, and flipped off the viewer. She really should have been rich right now, not forced to continue as a bounty hunter. Maybe she should be a rock star, or an actress. She certainly had the body for it. She was slim and lithe, though as fierce as a cornered badger when she had to be. Her favorite garments were a short yellow shirt and shorts that she left mostly undone, showing her assets to their greatest effect. Really, what kind of guy could possibly ignore this great figure?

She slipped off of the couch and wandered into the kitchen. She could hear the familiar sounds of Jet cooking. He was a massive slab of a man, aging but still mostly muscle. He was completely bald on the top of his head with a fringe around the sides and back, and his left arm was a cybernetic replacement. The original had been lost in a run-in with a rogue cop back in the days when Jet had worn the uniform of a detective.

She minced up behind him and laid a hand on his massive chest. She whispered over his shoulder and into his ear in her most sultry voice, "So what's for dinner, sexy?"

"Bell peppers and beef." His gruff tone indicated that he wasn't being taken in at all by her ploy. She screwed up her face in distaste. They'd been dining on that particular dish for what seemed like years.

"Ugh. Can't you cook something different?"

"Stop your whining. At least we actually have beef this time." He pulled out a small skillet and a ladle and banged them together loudly enough to make Faye cover her ears.

"Dinner!"

"Did Ed hear dinner?" A tall, skinny girl whipped out of nowhere, her movements seeming to defy the laws of physics as she bounced off of seemingly every surface in her rush to get to the table. Ein, a shaggy little dog with the intellect of a small child due to some genetic experimentation, raced into the kitchen with her, apparently trying to beat her to the table. Ed plunked down into her spot at the table just in time to prevent the dog from taking it.

"Sorry Ein, just dog food for you today." She gloated.

The dog whined in disappointment and went over to the corner to eat his customary dinner. He did accept a scratch from Jet, though, as the bounty hunter walked over to serve the food. Faye settled into her own chair, and held out her plate with an air of disinterest. She didn't see what Ein was complaining about. He knew that Ed and Jet would slip him little bits of their meal anyway.

Spike drifted into the room as Jet finished serving everyone. Since he was released from the hospital, he'd had to wear a set of devices that nullified the ship's gravity because his bones still weren't strong enough to support his weight. That didn't stop him from practicing his _katas_ on the exercise deck.

    Faye supposed that even if he were in a full body cast, as long as Spike could move, he would practice his _katas_. He said that they brought him peace, but she thought it was just an excuse to take up the exercise deck for three hours. Not that she needed to exercise, but she had noticed that her thighs were looking a little flabby recently.

"Bell peppers and beef, huh?"

"If you don't like it, you can just go without." Jet replied, in his most serene voice. "Ein would love to have it."

Spike eyed the dog, which was looking at him hopefully. Then, he floated to his customary place and started wolfing down the food like a starvation survivor. In a way, he was. They all were. There had been plenty of lean times on board the _Bebop_, times when so much of the reward money for the bounties they captured went to either traveling expenses or repair bills for buildings they had destroyed that the only thing they could afford to eat was bell peppers and beef, without the beef.

There had been that one time when they'd discovered that a bounty had been growing hundreds of Shitake mushrooms, but Faye didn't want to even remember that. They'd been forced to eat mushrooms for so long that she didn't think that she'd ever be able to look at one again without feeling nauseous.

She had just picked up her chopsticks to begin eating when the proximity alarm went off. They all looked up.

"What the hell? There's nothing to get close to in hyperspace except for other ships, and the gate records indicated that there wasn't anyone else on this route."

Jet had just begun to get up when the mother of all headaches hit Faye right between the eyes. It felt like someone was pounding a burning stake right through her skull. No hangover, no bump on the head, no concussion had ever hurt this much. She wanted to die. At least the agony would end. She managed to crack one eye open and realize that everyone else was apparently suffering the same thing, even Ein. Then, merciful blackness swallowed her and world disappeared, taking the pain with it.


	2. Falls

The siren woke her. Groggily, she opened her eyes, and rubbed her head as a headache faded. Faye sat up, and looked around. She was lying on the floor slightly underneath the table.

_What am I doing here?_ She wondered.

A motion from a heap across from her that she identified as Jet with his cooking wok over his head triggered a flood of memories. Bell peppers and beef for dinner, the proximity warning going off, and then a splitting headache before she passed out.

"Ugh. Did anyone get the number of the truck that hit me?" Jet pulled the wok off of his head and sat up gingerly, rubbing the back of his skull.

"No, but the driver should be charged with four drive-bys." This voice came from above, where Spike was drifting among the pipes that ran along the ceiling. The siren pulsed again, and he winced. "Would somebody shut that damn siren off?"

"Ed's head hurts." She whined from the floor.

"I'll get it." Faye shrugged off the last lingering effects of the strange affliction and went to the bridge. What she saw there stopped her in her tracks. They weren't in hyperspace anymore. They hadn't crossed through a warp gate, but even so there was a big, blue planet looming huge in the windows. Something had gone very, very wrong. She reached over to one of the stations and flipped a switch, simultaneously canceling the alarm and displaying the cause on the screen.

PLANETFALL WARNING. ATMOSPHERIC REENTRY IN 20 SECONDS. PROBABILITY OF ATMOSPHERIC BURNUP: 83

"Oh, crap. Jet! Spike! Get in here!" The last was enough of a panicked shout to draw everyone to the bridge almost instantly.

"What is it?"

"Somehow, we fell out of hyperspace and are now about to burn up in that," she pointed to the blue sphere in front of them, "planet's atmosphere." Wasting no time, Faye swung into a navigation seat. She looked back at the others, who were still trying to pick their jaws up off the floor. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Jet shut his mouth with an audible snap and swung into another seat. Spike settled in a third. Furiously, they began working the controls in front of them, calling up records, displays, and charts.

"How's our fuel supply?" Faye asked. Jet glanced at his readout.

"Not good. We don't have enough to get us into orbit at this velocity and altitude. We could do it from the surface, but not here."

"All right. Right now we have to worry about not burning up. Spike, I need a location to land this thing."

"Right. Let's see." Spike studied his screen. They had to change their angle to make a safe reentry, leaving them not many choices for a landing. But maybe they could hit that one long, narrow inlet...

"Here goes nothing..." Spike hit a button on his console, sending his selection to Faye's station. She glanced at it and grimaced. It was the best of a very, very bad lot.

"Hang on boys, it's about to get rough."

"Ed is buckled in!" Spike and Jet said nothing, just gripped their chairs tightly. When Faye described a landing as rough, it usually meant that the participants were lucky to make it out alive.

The bridge was beginning to get warm. Thrusters fired, turning the bow of the ship away from the surface, exposing the ceramic armor plates on the belly to the growing heat. The ship began to vibrate, growing more intense as they fell further towards the surface. Faye concentrated on the screen in front of her. They would have to activate the engines soon in order to hit their chosen landing spot, and they would still come in fast.

She watched the timer, and as the numbers before her hit ten seconds, she flipped the switch that would flood the engines with fuel, priming them to start cold. At zero, she mashed the ignition button. The first engine purred to life, then the second. But, when the third engine's turn came to fire, the ship bucked suddenly, as if it had been swatted with a giant fly swatter. A thunderous roar filled the ship, and the bow swung back down towards the surface again. Gauges went crazy, and a siren began hooting. Faye immediately slapped the cutoff switch for the engines, but the damage had already been done.

She grabbed the thruster controls in an effort to swing the ship so that the ceramic plating would take the heat again, but instead she heard the gut wrenching sounds of secondary and tertiary explosions as some of the attitude thrusters blew under the strain and the heat. The ship began to spin slowly on its long axis. Escaping now was out of the question. They were going to crash, and there was nothing she could do about it. They were probably going to die. Faye felt strangely calm. Jet was shouting, Spike was frantically pounding keys, and Ed was keening in dread, but none of it would do any good.

_Well, at least I can face certain death, instead of running away from it._

She turned in her seat to look out the window. The heat of reentry had dissipated, and they had slowed to the point that they could now see outside. Even after decelerating in the atmosphere, they were still dropping at a suicidal rate. At least they would have a nice view before they died. She focused on a dark spot on the otherwise green surface. As it grew closer, she realized that it was an immense city. Since it wasn't moving as they dropped, she knew that it would also become their graves. Adrenaline flushed her system as panic finally gripped her. She didn't want to die here! She ripped off the restraints and ran for the cabin door.

_I gotta get to my ship. Maybe I'll be able to break free of this wreck before it crashes!_

She was gripping the door as they crashed, so she didn't see the brief flare of the retro rockets that saved their lives before the impact hurled her back against the chair she had so recently vacated, knocking her into oblivion.


	3. Tifa's 8th heaven

Tifa Lockheart sighed. It had been a long day, and she was stiff. Placing her hands behind her back, she stretched backwards in an effort to relieve the tension, and was rewarded by the wonderful feeling of her back popping in several paces. She sighed again, this time in pleasure, and sat down at the only stool behind the bar.

"Miss Lockheart, you really shouldn't do that to yourself. You'll have a bad back by the time you're fifty."

"Hmpf. If pile driving a dragon from the Nibel Mountains doesn't give me a bad back, then working the bar never will. How was our take tonight?" Tifa popped open the cash register and began counting bills. She couldn't complain. As the sole owner of the only bar in the small town of Kalm, she was making money hand over fist.

"Um, I've got a hundred and fifty here, not counting my tips." Molly, a pretty young girl, had been Tifa's waitress since she'd opened the bar six months ago. Some of the customers said that Molly was half the reason they came in. Tifa, at five foot seven and a brunette beauty, was the other. Molly laid the money on the bar. Tifa nodded, and finished her counting. When she finished, she scooped it all into a bag and drew the string tight.

"Molly, we're done here today. Go home and get some sleep."

"Alright, Miss Lockheart. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Just lock the door on your way out." Tifa swung part of the counter out of the way and stepped out from behind the bar.

As she entered the kitchen, she heard the door shut behind Molly and the solid thunk the deadbolt made as she locked it. Tifa opened the small safe in one corner of the room and smiled. It had been a good day, and she had the girl to thank for a great deal of her prosperity. Hiring Molly had been one of the best decisions of her life. Depositing the bag next to several others, she closed the safe and locked it. It was almost time to make another trip to the bank. Standing up, she headed for the back door. It was time to check on her bouncer.

It took her a minute to find him in the darkness. He was in his favorite spot, sitting in a hammock staring at the night sky, a beer bottle hanging limply in his grasp. Tifa paused, hesitant to break his introspection. It wasn't often that Cloud Strife let down his guard, but sometimes, if she caught him just right, Tifa could see the child she had known shining through the hardened war hero.

He looked so peaceful, gazing at the stars. It was something that had always attracted her, his almost endless curiosity at the world around him, and a drive to see what challenges existed over the horizon. She just wished that he would finally decide how he felt about her. Her primary rival for his affection, Aeris, was dead. But, Cloud still seemed not to notice her. It was frustrating. Even so, she still lived for moments like these. Then, she shifted her weight, and a twig snapped underfoot.

Cloud's head snapped around, instantly alert for danger. Then, he saw her and relaxed. Reaching out a toned arm, he beckoned her over. She stepped off the stoop and walked slowly over. His eyes had returned to the sky, their glow piercing the darkness.

Part of his strength came from a dangerous and experimental process known as Mako infusion. Cloud and several others had been exposed to dangerous levels of the Planet's spirit energy in an attempt to give them superior fighting ability. Only about ten percent survived the process. The glow of his eyes was the trademark of a SOLDIER.

Cloud looked at her as she came closer. He indicated a spot on the hammock, and she sat down. He looked at her, really looked at her for the first time in a long time. Tifa was undoubtedly beautiful. She wore a tank top and miniskirt as if the style was invented for her alone, and more than one man had found his eyes irresistibly drawn to her long legs and flat belly. That is, until he was suddenly distracted by her fist or foot. For all her beauty, Tifa's best characteristic, in Cloud's opinion, was her fighting spirit. It was a dogged determination to get what she wanted and hold onto it against all comers.

He supposed he'd always loved her, but he'd never really known what to do about it. When they were younger, she'd been so far out of his league it was like having a crush on a star. Now, it seemed like all the other obstacles were gone, but he was still unsure. Surely a girl like her would end up with someone better than him. Even so, he still cared very deeply for her, and it was hard to ignore that little trill of excitement that he felt whenever he saw her.

Tifa shivered. It was nearly one a.m., and it was getting chilly, especially for her chosen wardrobe. The hammock had conspired to slide her up next to him, but that still left three sides exposed to the cold. Cloud felt the shiver, and realized how nippy it had gotten. Gently, he wrapped his free arm around her. She leaned into it gratefully. A smile almost graced Cloud's lips, but he fought it down.

"So what were you looking at?" she murmured into his chest.

"Oh, nothing and everything. It's a pretty night tonight." She nodded.

"Say, do you see those stars?" She followed his pointing finger to a cluster of stars just off an arm of the Milky Way.

"Mm-Hmm."

"Those are the only stars that can be seen on every spot on the Planet. I used to wish on them when I was younger. Those stars have probably heard each and every problem I've ever had."

"Really?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact-"Cloud was interrupted by a streak of light tearing suddenly across the sky, brighter than the surrounding stars. It disappeared over the horizon, and was followed by a bright flash. Shortly, the metallic sound of a terrific impact washed over them.

"What was that?"

"I'm not sure. But there's only one place I can think of that it might have made that sound hitting land, and that's Midgar."

Tifa suppressed a shudder that had nothing to do with the temperature. She, Cloud, and Barret had once lived in the two-level city, and it had been dangerous even then. Now, after being almost totally destroyed by Sephiroth and the Black Materia, Midgar was the home of some of the nastiest and strangest monsters ever to roam the Planet. If whatever it was had landed there, only a select few were capable of getting it out.

"We're going to need help if we're going there."

Cloud stood up. "I'll make the calls."

Tifa stood there after he went inside. A bad feeling was growing in the pit of her stomach. She'd heard a description of what their group's return to earth had looked like when they had flown into space, and the appearance of the falling object sounded disturbingly similar. If it was a rocket, and there were people inside, they were in big trouble. They would just have to hold out, though. Midgar was not the kind of place that one rushed into and survived, not even a couple as formidable as Cloud and Tifa. They would wait until their friends could arrive.


	4. Race to Midgar

Cloud hung up the receiver and turned to Tifa. "Cid says that he'll be here tomorrow morning with Barret, Red, and Cait Sith. I wasn't able to reach of Yuffie, and you know Vincent."

Tifa nodded. "It's worse than finding a needle in a haystack. Trying to contact Vincent is like trying to find a single flower in the rainforest."

"That it is." Cloud chuckled nervously, but it died away.

"It's really bothering you, isn't it?"

Tifa hesitated, but nodded again.

"Yeah, I guess it is. I had an awful thought when I saw it." She told him about the resemblance to their own planetfall in Cid's rocket. Cloud nodded in grim agreement.

"Yeah, that occurred to me too. I'm not much happier about it than you are."

"So what if there really were people in that thing?"

"Then we hope that it landed outside Midgar. C'mon, Tifa, it's time to hit the hay. We have a long day ahead of us, and only about five hours to get ready for it."

Tifa allowed Cloud to lead her up to her room above the bar. As he turned away, she stopped him.

"Cloud?" He turned back to her. "What if they did crash in Midgar?"

His face grew hard and determined.

"Then we go in after them." Then his expression softened, and he smiled faintly at her, trying to be reassuring. "Goodnight, Tifa."

"Goodnight, Cloud." She wasn't reassured, but she went to bed anyway.

The sun dawned rosy over Kalm, tinting the blue roofs purple in the early light. Cloud and Tifa, red-eyed from lack of sleep, quietly walked out of the bar and locked the door behind them. Strapped to their backs were identical packs, containing foodstuffs and medical supplies. In addition, strapped over Cloud's pack was an immense sword. He was dressed for adventuring, with armor plates strapped over both shoulders and heavy battle dress covering the rest of his body. Tifa wore the same outfit that she had worn the previous day, except that metal gauntlets now encased her hands, and the boots she wore were much thicker and heavier. Silently, they moved away from the building and out of town, stopping my Molly's house to leave a note in her mailbox explaining their sudden mission. Neither one had slept long or well, their thoughts whirling too madly to give them any peace. Zombie like, they set out on the road that led out of town, towards the Mythril Mines and the Chocobo Ranch, their current destination. Out of kindness to the still-sleeping residents of Kalm, Cloud had asked Cid to meet them at the ranch. Cid may have been the best pilot on the Planet, but his landings were almost unfailinglyânoisy. So, as a result, Cloud and Tifa were up early, with a long walk ahead of them.

As they walked, the sun worked its magic on them; warming stiff limbs and pouring renewed life into sleep-addled brains. As a matter of fact, by the time they reached the outskirts of the land claimed by the Ranch, they were feeling positively human. Which only increased their feeling of dismay when the small flock of levricons came streaming out of the tall grass and surrounded them. Tall, ostrich-like birds, the levricons had long, pointed beaks, and an inclination to use them on anyone or thing that crossed their path. The birds swarmed in on them, and Tifa, her weapons ever-present, got the first hit in. The unfortunate creature dashed in, beak leading and beady eyes red with bloodlust. She waited until the last minute, and then sidestepped. As the startled bird rushed past, her leg flashed out, entangling the long legs. The levricon fell with a startled squawk, its long neck whipping its head into the ground with stunning force. Tifa sidestepped the second also, dropping it with a swift karate chop. The third levricon, smarter than its kin, leapt into the air to bring its talons into play. Tifa put it out of her misery with a vicious jab to the breastbone.

Cloud didn't fare as well at Tifa. Startled, it took him a split second to draw his weapon. That delay cost him a painful peck as the first beast drew blood from his bicep. That's the only hit it was going to get though, because it's hard to ignore seven feet of steel coming down hard on a whiplike neck. Cloud looked beyond his first kill, and saw several more of the ferocious birds approaching. Despite the sting in his arm, he grinned.

"Bring it on."

Cloud charged the flock. Whipping his sword across, he neatly sliced the first in half. His next stroke took a head off, and the third split one from crown to crotch. The levricon, not being a stupid bird, immediately realized that Cloud was the biggest threat, and swarmed him. Cloud fought like a madman. Shrugging off stinging hit after stinging hit, He whipped his sword about like a toy, killing a bird with every swing. Still, sheer numbers gave the levricons a fighting chance. Then Tifa waded into the battle. Screeching birds flew right and left, legs and bodies and necks destroyed by her fists. Linking up with Cloud, she turned back-to back with him and pummeled any bird that ventured too close. Cloud grinned over his shoulder at her, and, knowing his back was protected, went on full attack. The levricons didn't stand a chance after that. Moments later, the remainder of the flock fled, screeching their pain to the empty plains. Cloud and Tifa dusted themselves off and inspected their wounds. They were all superficial, and so they started back down the road. Moments later, they heard a gruff voice in the distance.

Coming up over a rise, they saw the Chocobo Ranch spread out before them. It looked like any other ranch, with fenced in pastures and a large barn for livestock. In the pastures roamed the chocobos, large yellow birds that were the chosen beast of burden. Known for their generally even tempers, chocobos were capable of great speed over short distances, or they could carry a rider all day long.

Parked outside one of the pastures was the Tiny Bronco, a small plane that the group had last seen converted to a boat after being shot down outside of Rocket Town. Cid had expanded it when he rebuilt it, adding several passenger seats, but it was obvious that it had been a tight squeeze for the group standing around it. Cid Highwind, pilot extraordinaire, was the inventor, builder, and pilot of the plane, as well as many other flying craft. He was a skinny man with blond hair and goggles on his forehead. He wore a mechanic's overalls and a spear leaned against one shoulder. The ever-present cigarette dangled from his lips.

Barret Wallace was a giant of a man who had one normal arm and a Gatling gun mounted where his other forearm should be. He'd had it grafted there after the attack on his hometown that had taken his wife, child, and hand, swearing revenge on Shin-ra, Inc. He was known for his fiery impulsiveness and bone crushing hugs.

Cait Sith may have been the oddest looking of the group. He actually had two bodies. The bottom body was a mog, a white creature with tiny purple wings, and the top was a loudmouthed cat that told the mog what to do. He was all robot, though, with a sophisticated AI so that it was often impossible to tell if he was on remote control or on his own.

Vying with Cait for strange looks was Red XIII, also known as Nanaki. He appeared to be a red-haired lion, but was actually much smarter than most of the human race. His clan had been the guardians of Cosmo Canyon, the center of almost all scientific knowledge on the Planet, since time immemorial. Now, he was the last.

Barret saw them first. "What took you so long?"

Cloud pointed back to the road while Barret wrapped Tifa up in a trademark bear hug. "We had to deal with a flock of levricons."

Cid eyed Cloud's wounds judiciously. "You must be getting outta shape if a simple flock of levricons could do that to you. Here." He handed Cloud a green orb.

"Thanks." Cloud took the orb and gazed into it. A moment later, a green glow washed over his body, wiping away blood and wounds both, leaving unblemished skin behind it. Barret set Tifa down, and the glow enveloped her, too. Cloud handed the Restore materia back to Cid, but he refused it.

"Yer probably gonna need that more than me." Cloud considered the orb for a moment, then agreed and tucked it away. He looked up at the plane.

"So why'd you bring this? I thought you'd bring the airship."

Cid spat and mumbled around his cigarette.

"What?"

"Damned parts are backordered 'til next month. Ya picked a helluva time to need a ride somewere." The airship, Cid's second pride and joy, had been all but destroyed in the final conflict with Sephiroth six months before, and he had been furiously rebuilding it since.

Cloud grunted. "Looks like we're riding there, then. I'll go make the arrangements."

"Don't bother. I've already spoken with Chocobo Bill. 'Sides, I gotta take her with anyway. Robots don't ride, and if you've ever met a chocobo that'll let a lion on its back, I'd say you were lying."

"Okay." Cloud called them all together. "Here's the plan, everybody. Cid, Cait, and Red will take the Tiny Bronco out and to an aerial scan. We don't know how big this thing is, so we might need their eyes to find it. Barret, Tifa and I will ride there on chocobo-back. If there are humans in it, then we're the ones who will get them out. Cid, you're also on standby for medical evac. Questions?"

Silence greeted him. "Good. Let's go."

The two groups headed their separate ways. Cloud, Tifa and Barret walked into the barn to select their mounts. Moments later, they heard the whup-whup-whup of the Tiny Bronco taking off. They led their chosen birds out of the barn, mounted up, and headed out.

The return trip past Kalm took a lot less time. There actually wasn't that much distance between Midgar and Kalm, it was just hidden from view by a very broken landscape. They were closing the last mile of still-verdant land when the PHS rang. Tifa picked it up.

"Yes Cid?"

"We're landing outside the gates. You guys are going to have to see this to believe it."

She shut off the phone. Cloud turned to her. "What is it?"

"They're landing. C'mon." Tifa flicked the reins and her chocobo surged forward. She raced up the last rise overlooking the Midgar waste, and then dragged her mount to a stop, sawing on the reins in her shock.

"Oh, no."


	5. Sector Three

**Author's Note:** This story has started off a little slow, but I'm starting to get some ideas now, so it should pick up a little bit in the next couple of chapters.

X-Over: Well, they're not quite there yet, but we'll get back to them soon. They'll most likely take it well, after all, how much worse can life get when you're a starving, chronically broke cowboy?

Zinkata and White-Oleanders-Back: Thanks for the reviews. It keeps a guy going.

Comments/criticism are the stuff of life.

* * *

Tifa looked out over the ruins of the once-proud city. Midgar was still massive, though most of it lay in ruins. It had been constructed of twin plates, one set in the earth, and the other resting on giant pillars some thirty stories tall. Beneath lay the slums; deprived of sunlight and weather, the only sky the people living there ever knew was the steel underbelly of the plate above. The only light they saw was the fluorescent, neon, and halogen glows of the hundreds of lights and signs. It had once been a fad to wrap Christmas lights, scavenged from the thousands of junk piles, around every signpost, chain, and column around. It had been a pretty sight in an ugly reality. Beneath the plate, it was a dog-eat-dog world, and to the victor went the spoils. Gangs, whores, pimps, and lowlife scum were everywhere, menacing the ordinary population who were simply too poor to move to a better place.

The upper plate was where the rich folk lived. Overseeing it all was the massive Shin-Ra Inc. building, a massive edifice seventy stories tall and employing half the folk in Midgar. AVALANCHE had stormed it twice, first in an effort to rescue their friend Aeris, then to disable the Sister Ray, a cannon so massive it dwarfed even the Shin-Ra building and required the power of the entire city to fire.

Now, though, Midgar was utterly destroyed. The first plate to fall had been over Sector 7, the location of AVALANCHE's base. It had been dropped by order of President Shin-Ra himself, and though it didn't kill AVALANCHE, it did kill nearly a thousand innocents. The rest of the damage had come from an attack by Diamond WEAPON and the clash between Meteor and Holy. They had left the city in rubble, with five of the eight plates collapsed and the top of the Shin-Ra building snapped off, leaving girders and support structure sticking up into the air like skeletal fingers.

Now, though, the Shin-Ra building sported a new addition. Something massive had slammed into it halfway up its remaining height. The bit they could see sticking out of the remaining structure was the oddest thing any of them had ever seen. The end had nozzles like Cid's rocket, but there the resemblance ended. The top was flattened, but the bottom curved around like the keel of a boat. The object looked to have destroyed several floors upon impact. The devastation was impressive.

"Damn." Barret said with heartfelt awe. Cloud added an appreciative whistle. Tifa agreed with them. This made AVALANCHE's bombing the reactors back when they were a terrorist organization look like child's play. Peeling his eyes away from the awesome spactacle, Cloud heeled his bird down the slope, and Tifa and Barret followed. The terrain was rough, requiring constant attention. Plants still refused to grow around the city because of the drain on the Planets' resources from the Mako reactors. Pebbles were everywhere, forcing the birds to occasionally flutter their wings in an effort to stay upright. Eventually, though, they reached the bottom and rode over to where Cid had parked the Tiny Bronco. They dismounted, and Cid took the cigarette out of his mouth and ground it out on his boot heel.

"'Bout time you got here. We'll go in as soon as you're ready." Cid stated. His voice was even, but he hadn't cursed even once. Tifa could tell he was as shocked by the devastation as she was. Maybe more, because as a pilot, he had a clearer idea of what an impact like that would be like. Suddenly, she had to wonder if they were going to find anything alive in there after all, and, if they did, if it wouldn't be kinder to just put it out of its misery.

They tied the reins of the chocobos to the plane's landing gear and moved to the edge of the city. Even in a state of total disrepair, the massive wall surrounding the city was still intact, so they had chosen to meet at the gate to Sector 5, a great thing of steel and hydraulics that required a key card to enter. Cloud pulled out the card they had recovered from an archaeological dig and swiped it through the card reader. Nothing happened. He sighed.

"It figures." He pocketed the card again and turned back to the others. "Power's out. We're going to have to find another way in. Fan out and search for cracks in the wall. Barret, I want you to go with Cid and Red. Cait, Tifa, you're with me. Call if you find something."

They all nodded their understanding and moved off. Cloud and Tifa hadn't gone much more than a mile before the PHS rang. Tifa picked it up.

"Hello?" It was Barret.

"We found one that should work. It's over by Sector Three."

"Okay, we're near Sector Seven now. Give us half an hour."

"Will do." They hung up, and Tifa put the phone away.

"What's up?" Cloud asked.

"They found one in Sector Three."

"Okay, let's go."

* * *

The crack in question traveled the entire height of the wall. The problem was that the only part wide enough to pass through was only high enough to crawl through. Red looked at it, and then considered his friends. Cid would be able to pass, though he wouldn't be happy about it, but Barret would find it a tight squeeze. Cid was frowning at it too. Anyone crawling through that hole would be horribly vulnerable to a waiting predator as they exited. Anyone, that is, except a creature that traveled on all fours normally.

"Cid, I'm going to go scout the other side." Cid took a long drag on his cigarette, gazing at Red over the glowing ember. He held the smoke in for a moment, but never broke his gaze until finally he turned his head to the side and exhaled.

"Alright. Just be careful." Red nodded, and Cid took another drag. "Oh, and Red?"

Red turned his head back from the wall.

"Take these." Cid held up a yellow and a purple orb. Red nodded, recognizing them. Cid snapped them into catches on the lion-beast's hairpin, and then stepped back. Red shook his mane to check the fit and, satisfied, moved into the crack and disappeared.

The wall was incredibly thick. It took several steps for Red to reach the end of the crack. He was pleased to see that it opened up at the end. It would allow the others to emerge in a somewhat more defensible crouch. Stopping at the opening, Red sniffed the air. He smelled concrete, steel, oil, and a faint whiff of something organic, but not strong enough to identify. Cautiously, he slipped from the wall to a nearby pile of tumbled concrete, careful to stay in the shadows. He tested the air again. Still nothing. Good. He moved outward from the pile along the wall, stopping every so often to test the air. He found nothing, and no evidence that anything had been there recently. He went back to the hole and called back to Cid and Barret.

"Coast's clear."

Cid's voice floated back to him, wierdly distorted by the concrete. "Stay put. Barret's coming through, and I'm going to wait for the others. Soon as they get here, we'll go."

"Okay." Red turned his attention back to his surroundings. It didn't seem like there were any threats nearby, but in this place a lack of vigilance often led to a swift death. Soon, his keen hearing picked up the sounds of a large individual moving through the confined space. Moments later, Barret emerged from the hole, huffing and puffing and covered in dust. He stood up and dusted himself off. Red coughed, choking on the dust. Barret waved his gun-arm, trying unsuccessfully to disperse the dust.

"Sorry, Red." He apologized as the cloud finally dispersed.

"It's not a problem." Red said, wiping his tearing eyes with a paw. Curses, but sometimes having such keen senses was a nuisance! "Though I do think I will stand upwind when Cait comes through here."

Barret chuckled. "So, have you seen anything?"

Red shook his head. "Nothing. I can't pick up a scent any fresher than last week, either. It's like everything just got up and left."

"Hmm, what could make a bunch of the nastiest critters on the Planet just get up and take off like that?"

"Whatever it is, _I_ sure don't want to meet it."

* * *

Tifa was glad to see Sector Three come into view. Midgar was not a small city, even in its diminished state, and they had walked nearly all the way around it. Cid was standing near a crack in the wall, smoking as usual, his spear up against his shoulder.

"Glad you could make it." He said around the cigarette. "It's a tight squeeze, so we should have Mr. Big, Fuzzy, and Immune to Pain here go first."

Cait hopped forward. He eyeballed the crack, decided he would just barely fit, and turned back to Cid. "The cards tell me that you should be nicer to your friends or great misfortune will befall you."

"Just get in there, you $#& cat." Cait gave him a raspberry, and with that, his cat body hopped off his mog body's head and strolled into the opening. The mog followed it in, and they soon heard rustlings and small pops issuing from the crack. Cloud raised an eyebrow at Cid, who only shrugged and looked at him as if to say, 'don't look at me, I don't know any more than you do.' Soon enough, the sounds ceased, and Barret called back for the next. Cloud looked at Tifa.

"Ladies first?" he asked.

"Um, no, you go on ahead." She replied, suddenly mindful of the short skirt she was wearing. Cloud shrugged and turned to Cid. "Flip for it?"

Cid pulled out a lighter. On one side was a picture of the Highwind. "Plane side up, you go first."

Cloud nodded, and the lighter went up, came down, and was caught by Cid, who promptly slapped it down on the back of his hand. Pulling his hand away, they saw that it had landed with the picture up. Cid grinned. Cloud shrugged and crawled into the hole. Cid looked at Tifa.

"After you, I insist." Cid had also noticed Tifa's skirt. He pulled his eyes away from her legs quickly, but not quite quickly enough. Tifa saw his eyes wander, and felt the heat rising in her cheeks. She pointed at the crack and put as much steel in her voice as she could muster.

"Move it, flyboy." Cid shrugged, gave her a 'You know I had to try' look, and crawled inside. She waited until she couldn't hear him anymore, and got down on her own hands and knees. Crawling inside, she saw what had caused the popping sounds she'd heard before. Cait was so strong that when he came to a place where the concrete was too small for him to pass, he had simply kept going, breaking it off as he went. As a result, the passage floor was littered with dust and small bits of sharp rock. It was slow and painful going, but eventually she felt the sunlight on her hair again. As soon as her shoulders cleared the wall, two pairs of strong arms grabbed her arms and hauled her out, setting her on her feet. She blinked in the sudden brightness and dusted herself off. Looking around, she saw that they were all gathered together. Red was crouched on a tumbled pile of rocks upwind of them, and Cid was examining their surroundings while pointedly _not_ looking at her. She looked around. Sector Three had once been Midgar's primary power management station and a prime future target for AVALANCHE. Now, however, the plate had broken free and now lay twisted and bent looking for all the world like a pizza slice with too many toppings and not enough crust. The good news was that a massive pipe leading into the bowels of the Shin-Ra building had been ruptured by the ruin of the plate, giving them easy access, and the plate itself would allow them to simply walk up to it. The bad news was that if it was easy for them to get to, it was easy for everything to get to.

"Red, what does your nose tell you?" Cloud spoke up. Except for AVALANCHE, it was deserted, and eerily quiet. Tifa was expecting some quiet while the local predators decided whether or not they were worth eating, but this sounded like they were the only living things in the entire city. The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up.

"I don't smell anything fresher than last week, and we haven't heard or seen anything living since we got here." The lion-beast answered with a shrug. Cloud's mouth drew into a grim line. To say the least, the situation was highly unusual.

"All right. Seems like today is our lucky day. Red, I want you in front. Warn us if something changes. Tifa, I want you to follow him. Next are Cait and Barret, and Cid and I will bring up the rear. Everyone got Materia?" He received a chorus of agreement. "Good. Eyes open, let's get going. I want to see what's in that office building."

* * *

The pipe was immense. It was nearly two stories tall and rusting. The torn edges were still sharp, though, as Barret discovered, nicking himself on the way in. He hissed in surprise. Cid noticed and turned around. He saw the blood on Barret's arm.

"What'cha got there?"

Barret shook his head. "Nothin.' Edges are sharp, that's all."

Cid grabbed the arm and looked at the cut. It was long and shallow, cutting across the side of Barret's bicep and tricep. Normally, it wasn't worth worrying about. However, the rust on the pipe raised questions of tetanus. Cid pulled out the first aid kit. Since Aeris' death, Cid had become the primary medic of the group, his days in the Shin-Ra air force leaving him as the most qualified among them. Barret tried to pull away when he saw the kit come out.

"Hey, I don't need any of that. It's just a scratch." Cid didn't relent.

"Yeah, it's a scratch with rusty metal. So sit down and shut up, or I'll have to have Cait sit on you." Barret grumbled, but he held still. Cid swabbed antiseptic on the arm, and then pulled out a small hypodermic needle. Pulling off the cover, he swiftly jabbed it into Barret's arm and depressed the plunger, injecting the contents into the larger man's bloodstream. Barret hissed in pain.

"Shaddup, baby." Cid muttered around his cigarette, tossing the used syringe into a small metal container. Pulling out some gauze and medical tape, he quickly bound the wound. When he finished, the tossed the medical kit back into his pack. Barret flexed the arm and decided that he still had a full range of movement. The others were waiting for them expectantly. Cid signaled to Cloud that he was finished, and they proceeded down the tunnel. As they went in, the light dwindled, eventually becoming nearly dark. Barret, Tifa, and Cloud pulled flashlights out of their packs and turned them on. Cid attached a smaller version of the same to his goggles. A few moments later, Red's voice floated back to them.

"Hey, come see this." The group advanced until they could see him. He indicated the wall. There in the rust were several deep grooves. They looked like something had dragged some very sharp claws across the surface of the metal. From the size, whatever it was, it was nearly twice their size. Cid whistled in appreciation.

"Big son of a #$, ain't it?" Red nodded.

"I would estimate it stands three and a half meters tall. Not only that, but look at the marks. There's not even a hint of rust in them. They were made in the last week."

Cloud voiced the question that they were all thinking. "Is it still here?"

Red sniffed the air again. "I can't be sure, but I don't think so. It seems that what ever this is, it went to the same place that everything else in Midgar went."

"Which probably means that it's lying in wait for us up ahead. Great. Well, no sense in keeping it waiting." Cloud gestured down the tunnel with his light, and Red moved into the darkness. After a count of five, the rest of the group followed him.

The pipe continued down into the bowels of the Shin-Ra building. They were now below the level of the top plate and into the main support strut, the monstrous pillar that supported not only all eight sector plates, but also the weight of the immense building above it. Cloud was beginning to wonder if they were going to walk all the way to the center of the Planet when Red walked back into the light.

"I think I've found an exit." He said.

"Show us." Cloud replied. Red led them ten feet deeper into the pipe. There, something had torn a gaping hole in the side, revealing a room on the other side. Not surprisingly, the edges were twisted and gouged from massive claws, and the rust hadn't had a chance to gain a foothold yet.

"Well, at least we know where our big friend went." Barret commented.

"Why is that a less than comforting thought?" Cait asked.

"Because it means we're chasing something that might want to have us for dinner." Cloud stated.

"Better scratch that might, fearless leader. Look." Barret pointed. There, in the darkness beyond the pipe, two beady dots of light peered back at them.

"I hate being right." Cait moaned.


	6. Back to the Bebop

**Author's Note**: Apologies for the slow speed of my update, real life sucks. So does school.

Cattibrie393: Thanks for the compliment. I try to write in such a way that someone who's never seen any of the series will still know what's going on. It's good to know that it's effective.

X-Over: Ask and ye shall receive.

Read and review, please. If you think my stuff sucks, please, tell me about it, and why. I'd love to become a better writer.

* * *

The entity moved through space. It was a darkness against the deeper darkness between stars, the only indication of its existence a momentary blotting out of light for those who noticed. It was old, and powerful. It was not a god, but it had been mistaken as one in the past, and would be again in its nearly limitless lifetime.

It knew hunger. Its sustenance was souls, human or otherwise. It could consume them whole, or it could be nourished by small parts of multiple souls. Its favorite method was convincing smaller life forms to worship it, to willingly give up fragments of their own souls. But, it had been long since it had been able to so deceive a population. With the recent spread of humanity through the galaxy, and the technology they brought with them, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the populations to believe in anything supernatural, much less divine.

So, the entity wandered through space in search of a more...gullible planet. Just by chance, curling around a sun for whatever nourishment it could gain from the heat, it sensed something it had never expected to see.

A planet orbited this sun, one among six, but such a planet! It teemed with life, energy fairly bursting off of the surface and into the void of space. If it had possessed a corporeal form, saliva would have dripped from the entity's mouth. Hungrily, it whipped away from the star, its form undulating through the empty vacuum.

Sinking into the planet's atmosphere, the entity writhed in ecstasy. The life energy suffused its entire being, bringing warmth to parts that it had forgotten. Sinking deeper, it received a shock. Not only was their life growing on the surface of this planet, but the planet _itself_ had a soul! The entity shook in delight.

-I must plunder this planet for all it is worth. Such power will sustain me for millennia to come! But how?-

Its hunger momentarily sated, the entity sank into a massive crater to consider the problem. A tiny spark of life caught its attention. Focusing its attention out of the astral sense it normally observed in, it saw a small ground creature. The creature was feeble, its spirit energy wavering like a flame barely holding to a wick.

As the entity watched, the creature stopped moving, and its energy broke free of its form, floating free. The creature, or its soul, the entity was never sure with these lower life forms, drifted for a moment like a leaf on a breeze. Then, suddenly taking a sense of urgency, it ghosted down beneath the surface of the planet.

Letting the real world fade, the entity continued to watch the creature's progress. It wound its way deeper into the earth, eventually coming upon a mighty flow of energy and slipping into it, like a fish in an underground river. Shortly, the creature's distinct form faded and was absorbed into the energy.

-So, that is how this planet stays so alive. This is where I will feed. But first, I need to eliminate those who would stop me. Some always exist, crying out about the sanctity of life or some such nonsense. They are always defeated, but I would rather not have my meal interrupted.-

The entity delved deep into the stream of life, sifting through it for more powerful forms that had not yet been folded into the greater power around them. Finding some, it sifted through them, measuring them and then discarding them as unsuitable to the task. Finally, it found what it was looking for. It swept a part of itself around the spirit, insulating it from the flow of energy so it would remain. Next, the entity drew as much energy into itself as it dared, knowing that it would need it for the task ahead.

Withdrawing from the stream, it rose back to the surface, hovering in the earth. Taking some of the earth from around itself, it began to mold the dirt into the form of a man, compressing it and adding moisture until it took on the consistency of clay. The entity know that it was lacking some of the materials to make its project truly complete, but that would be addressed later.

Finally, satisfied with its work, the entity took the spirit it had captured and fed it some of the energy the entity had taken from the life-river. Slowly, slowly it poured in to be absorbed into the spirit, until it blazed nearly as brightly as the living forms above. If it had a mouth, the entity would have smiled. The energy that it had fed the spirit was laced with a small portion of itself. The spirit was bound to it, now and forever.

Now that both the spirit and the pseudo-flesh were ready, it was time to introduce them. The entity formed a hollow in itself and filled it with air. It pushed back the earth and placed the body within. Then, it opened a corridor between the spirit and the cavity.

The spirit saw the body, and moved forward, intrigued. It circled it slowly, examining it. The entity nudged the spirit in an encouraging manner. The spirit, getting the picture, dove into the body. A moment of stillness, and then the body began to move, the spirit becoming acclimated to its new surroundings.

The entity knew a sense of satisfaction. Exerting itself, it drove upwards and broke through into the air. Gently, it took the newborn and set it upon the earth.

-Go, child. Go forth into the world and take what you need. When you are ready, return to me, and I will give you your task.-

The entity sensed its child's agreement, and subsided back into the earth. Now, it had only to wait. It would not take long for the child to mature, and then...

And then...

* * *

A groan sounded through the room. Someone was waking up. Spike thought to himself that he'd find out who it was when some lights came on. The hull groaned, settling itself wherever it had landed and sending a stight tremor through the deck, drawing another groan.

Simultaneously, Spike realized two things: first, that it was dark because his eyes were closed, and secondly, he had been the one groaning. He'd had good reson for it, too. His body _ached_ all over. His eyes fluttered open and he sat up, the null-gravity devices the doctors had forced on him clinging to his skin disgustingly.

The first thing he noticed was that the emergency lights were on, so main power was probably down. Glancing around, he saw Faye slumped over her console. Jet was on the floor nearby, and he could make out Ed's ankles sticking out over the back of one of the acceleration couches. He tried to call out to them, but all that came out was a croak. Spike ran his dry tongue around his mouth. It felt like he'd been sucking on Jet's bootsoles all day. Thinking quickly, he imagined a seven-course meal. Lobster over rice, spaghetti with meatballs, bratwurst with onions and honey mustard...there we go.

His mouth now moistened, Spike tried again.

"Hey. Anybody alive?" Jet stirred and rolled over on his left side.

"Yeah, barely." He rubbed the side of his head and sat up. "Did anybody get the license plate of that truck?"

Faye's eyes fluttered open, scanned the room, and closed again. "Oh, God, why me?"

"Because nobody else." Jet snorted and stood. He knuckled his back and was rewarded with a couple pops. Glancing around, he did a quick head count and came up one short.

"Ed? You okay?"

A muffled voice came from the couch. "Ed is stuck."

Jet sighed. "Okay, we'll get you out. Just stay put."

The three bounty hunters moved around to the other side of the couch and were surprised at what they saw. The boyish girl had somehow managed to get her head stuck between the cushions and through the supporting metal grille, bending it in such a way that whe was now stuck fast. Strictly speaking, such a thing should have been impossible. Three jaws dropped. Ed grinned in her oddly innocent way.

"Help?" Jet sighed again.

"C'mon, you two. Let's get her out of here." This was not going to be fun.

After thirty minutes of grunting and straining, almost none of which Spike was forbidden to help with (No way! I'm not paying your hospital bills again!), a very relieved and very sore Ed was released from her couch prison. She promptly hugged Jet, was dodged by Faye and Spike, and went in search of Ein. The three adults sat down.

"Well, where do we stand?" Spike asked from his place on the floor.

"Main power's down, so we can't get any instrument readings on the outside. We don't even know if we're on land or not." Jet replied.

"So the first order of business is to get the power up and figure out where we are."

"Actually, I'd say we're either in a dump or an office building. Look." Faye pointed at the viewport. Sure enough, in the dim red lighting the remains of an office chair were smashed up against the transparisteel and held in place by a pile of rubble.

"Huh. Okay, well that answers the question of civilization." Jet grunted. "Still, we need that power, or we're not going anywhere."

"Okay, let's get down to the engine room and get it back on."

"Ooh, people." Spike was interrupted by Ed's singsong.

"What?" The adults scrambled to look over her shoulder. Somehow, the internal security had managed to survive the crash and a video feed from the engine room was playing on the monitor. Three people were in there, two men and a woman. They were all wearing what seemed to be tailored business suits. One of the men, the one with hair, was carrying a nightstick, but that appeared to be the only weapon they had. The engine shielding had cracked a bit, exposing a fuel rod, and the man was poking at the crack with his nightstick. They were talking, but there was no audio.

"Ed, is this live?" Jet hissed.

"Yep yep yep!" She replied.

"Shit. Let's get down there. Ed, you stay here and watch them. If they so much as twitch, let us know." She saluted him, grinning like a loon.

"Good. Spike, stay here. I don't want you-"

"No."

"What?"

"I'm coming with. There's three of them, and only two of you. If they're packing under those pinstripes, you'll need my help."

"But Spike, you're hurt. If those null-g units go offline, your bones will collapse!" Faye reasoned.

Spike ground his teeth in frustration. Opening his shirt, he grasped the offending units and ripped them from his body, taking a fair amount of skin with them. Instantly, his bones ached as they took up the strain of full gravity, but he gritted his teeth, and the pain subsided into a dull fog in the back of his mind. Spike tossed the network of small devices and wires into the corner and started buttoning his shirt again.

"Any more objections?" He threw over his shoulder.

"Ugh. Men." Faye dropped her head into her hands in despair. "If you're finished with the striptease, could we please go now?"

"Sure." When she looked again, Spike was back to his usual self, with his .357 in his hand and a grin on his face. She knew that look. Spike always looked like that right before he did something stupid. Faye sighed again.

Jet simply raised an eyebrow at the display. Turning, he triggered the mechanism that opened the door and moved deeper into the ship. Spike followed, with Faye bringing up the rear.

They reached the engine room without incident. The door was a heavy one, designed to keep engine noise contained apart from the rest of the ship. They couldn't hear a thing. Jet pulled out his communicator and activated it. Ed's face popped up immediately.

"Hihi!" She bubbled.

"Ed, can you patch the engine room intercom into my communicator?" Jet asked.

She grinned. "Sure!"

Her face disappeared and was replaced by the security feed from inside the room. A tinny voice came from the set.

"-at do you think this stuff is? Materia?"

"I've never seen anything like it. What do you think it does?" This one was a female voice.

"I don't know. We should probably take some for study."

Jet looked at the others. He raised three fingers and then pointed at the opening device. On the count of three, he would open the door, and they would rush the intruders. Spike and Faye nodded. Jet stepped to the side, giving them a clear field of fire. He drew his gun and positioned the grip over the hatch control. He put up the three fingers again, slowly dropping them.

Three.

Two.

One.

The door hatch opened, and Faye dove through the door, coming up in a crouch with the bald one dead in her sights on the other side. Spike was hot on her heels, drawing a bead on the redhead with the nightstick. Jet was last, stepping around the doorframe to menace the woman. They shouted in unison.

"Freeze!"

The three intruders jumped and spun about. The bald man came down in a boxer's crouch. The other man, a somewhat unkempt looking redhead, quickly hid his surprise behind a cool façade. The blond woman paled and stiffened. Both sides stared at each other for a moment, before Spike broke the silence.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in our ship?" He demanded, his aim never wavering from the other man's heart. The redhead spoke up.

"Easy, there. We just came to investigate the crash. I'm Reno, this is Rude," he indicated the bald man, "and behind me is Elena. You'll have to excuse her; she's new. We're the-"

Whatever he was going to say was lost as Faye, noticing Elena's hand edge towards her suit jacket, screamed 'gun!' and fired at her. The shift in aim cost her a split second of warning, so instead of killing Elena, the bullet simply found her shoulder and tossed her back.

Quickly, Elena's hand continued its motion and ripped out of the jacket what appeared to be a green ball the size of her fist.

"Wall!" Instantly, a coruscating wall of color interposed itself in front of each business-suited combatant. It was just in time to catch the hail of bullets as Spike and Jet opened fire.

The one called Rude rushed Faye, arm cocked for a hammerblow to her jaw. She dodged to the side, and pumped three rounds into his abdomen at extreme close range, only to have them deflected by the odd shield. She cursed and saw stars as the left jab she didn't see coming connected, snapping her head back with the force of the impact.

Spike leapt over her prone form, delivering a powerful flying kick to the man's jaw. Again, the shield interposed itself, but Rude was still pushed back by the force of the blow. Spike waded in, trading punches and kicks.

Reno rushed Jet. His nightstick flashed, smashing the gun from Jet's hand. Jet grunted and lashed out with his cybernetic arm while going for his holdout pistol in his waistband. Reno was the quicker, though, dodging Jet's punch and slapping his nightstick into Jet's exposed belly. Jet's spine arched and his eyes popped as a sudden burst of electricity ripped through him. Spasming, he fell to the ground.

Keeping his presence of mind, though, Jet whipped out his pistol and emptied it into the other man. The now obviously fading shield deflected each of them. In disgust, Jet threw his weapon at Reno and went looking for a more effective weapon. Reno was having none of it, though. The impact of the handgun on the shield finally brought it down, leaving him vulnerable.

Figuring that the best defense was a good offense, Reno slapped the electrodes into Jet once, twice, and again, delivering shocks with each blow. Finally, as Jet's movements became feeble, he activated his staff's greatest power and dropped a glowing pyramid of energy over his opponent, rendering him motionless.

Faye had her own troubles. She had seen Reno's shield go down and was about to fill him with more holes than Swiss cheese when she heard Elena off to her right.

"Bolt 3!"

Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning erupted from her hand and hit Faye's weapon, blowing it from her hand and making her hair stand painfully on end. Faye spun around, ready to kill, and saw that Elena was gazing into a second green orb. Never one to turn down good fortune, Faye jumped over the railing for the three steps down into the room and headed for the kill. Three steps away, Elena's head snapped up, her eyes glowing green.

"Stop."

Faye's arm came back for a right hook. She was going to enjoy knocking the freaky glow right out of this girl's eye. She took a step, started to swing, and her movements began to slow right before her eyes. She moved as if in slow motion, her body refusing her commands to speed up. The look of glee on her face became frozen in a look of disbelief as her body slowed to a stop, inches from connecting with Elena's face.

Elena grinned and moved away. Faye turned her head to look, but discovered that not only was she unable to move her head, she couldn't move her eyes, either.

Spike and Rude were a ball of fury. Rude, his shield long evaporated by Spike's constant attention, was impressed. It wasn't often that he found a martial artist that could match him blow for blow. He went for an uppercut that would knock the wind from Spike, but the man sidestepped and went for an open palmed strike to the face. Rude's head rocked back, but he swept a foot out and managed to tangle Spike's feet enough to bring him down.

He was up in a flash, though, fists and feet flying. Rude blocked two punches, a kick, another trip attempt, and accepted a stinging blow to the jaw before he was able to grab Spike's wrist. Turning the wrist, he forced Spike to turn his back and put him in a hammerlock.

Spike turned into the lock and brought his foot up between them, landing an awkward blow to Rude's chin, but it was enough to loosen the other man's grip so he could pull away. Spinning, Spike launched a back kick at Rude, but the other ducked it and punched Spike in the chest. Spike looked up just in time to catch a powerful roundhouse to the nose. Flying back, he slammed into the wall, seeing stars and trying to get his vision to clear before he was attacked again.

Blinking tears out of his eyes, Spike tottered to his feet. His left arm wasn't working properly. Glancing at it, he saw it hanging at an unnatural angle. _Damn. Broke it again._ Letting the arm hang, Spike charged Rude, his arm cocked back. Rude let him come, waiting for the opportune moment. This would end it, he knew.

Spike reached him and let fly. At the same time, Rude swiftly crouched and swung an uppercut from the floor, connecting solidly with Spike's jaw and lifting him off the floor just as Spike connected, breaking Rude's sunglasses and making blood fly from his mouth.

Both opponents fell to the floor, sweating and gasping, totally exhausted. Spike looked up at Rude. Rude looked back at Spike, a trickle of blood seeping from his lip. Spike spoke first.

"You're good."

"So're you."

"Who wins?"

"Nobody wins. We're not here to fight." Spike looked up at Reno. In the chaos, he'd temporarily forgotten about the others. Glancing around, he saw Jet trapped in some sort of glowing pyramid thingie, and Faye standing in mid-stride, stock-still. Only the slight rise and fall of her chest let him know she was alive.

"Can we call a truce, and we'll explain?" Reno asked. Spike nodded. He was too out of breath to do anything else.

Reno nodded and motioned to Elena. "Elena, if you would?"

Elena stepped forward. Spike noticed that the wound in her shoulder was gone. She had two green orbs in her hands. Raising one, she looked at Rude.

"Cure 2." A purple glow enveloped Rude, and as Spike watched, the bruises starting to form faded and the trail of blood dried up as if it never were. Rude got to his feet and dusted his suit off. She repeated her actions with Jet and Faye before coming over to Spike.

She looked at his arm and frowned. "This is going to require something with a little more oomph."

She stuck her hand back into her jacket and pulled out a third orb. She stared at it, and as she did so, a green glow crept into her eyes. Finally, she glanced up at him.

"Fullcure." White light enveloped Spike, washing over him and moving through him. It soothed away his bruises, and then slipped beneath the flesh to bone. Then the itching started. At first, it was a minor irritation, but it quickly grew to be all consuming. Then, it got more intense. Spike writhed. It had gone beyond itching now, and progressed to pain. It got deeper and deeper, more powerful. It felt as if something were running him through a meat tenderizer set on high. Then, just when he couldn't bear it any more, it faded, leaving behind a cool sensation of relief. He sighed in bliss.

"Well, that was unusual." Elena spoke. "I've never heard anyone scream so loudly while being healed."

"How did you...?" Spike asked.

Reno shook his head. "I'll tell you as we walk. All that noise was bound to have attracted some unwanted attention."

Elena pulled out her last orb. She triggered it on Jet and Faye, freeing them from their stasis. Picking up her items, she shoved them back from whence they came, and stood up.

"Let's get out of here." She said. Reno nodded.

"Follow our lead as we leave. We need to get to a safe location before nightfall. Things come out after dark that you don't want to face." He looked at their mystified expressions. "Look, I'll explain everything, but for now, just trust me, okay?"

Jet rubbed his scalp. "Alright, you win. Lead on."

They moved deeper into the engine room, to a large crack in the hull that had evidently given the three entrance into the ship. Reno turned back to them before slipping into the fissure.

"Oh, by the way, I never finished my introductions earlier. We're the Turks."


	7. Within the depths of ShinRa

Again, I apologize for the slow rate at which I am writing this. College finals are rough. So is working for your education. Anyway, here's something for you to chew on.

Shout-outs:

X-Over: I have some ideas about how things will get explained and how meetings will go. I haven't forgotten about Ed and Ein, even though the Bebop crew appears to have done so. Appears, of course. Thanks for the offer of web links, but I think I'm okay in the research department. I do have to admit that capturing the Bebop spirit is a pretty big challenge, though.

* * *

Cloud drew his sword and looked at the rest of the team. They readied their own weapons in silence and nodded. Cloud nodded, and with a shout, leapt through the hole, swinging his blade over his head in a powerful downward slice. As the rest of the team jumped through the jagged opening, a tortured metallic screech met their ears. Barret brought his flashlight to bear on the source of the sound, and illuminated Cloud with his sword buried deeply in a computer console. The red lights that they had mistaken for eyes were indicator lights, now swiftly dimming away to nothing as sparks jumped from the huge gash in the metal.

"I think it's dead, goldilocks." Barret quipped, lowering his weapon.

"Yeah, I suppose." Cloud tugged the weapon free and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, at least we have power." Red XIII said. "Maybe we can turn the lights on."

He moved to another console and peered at it. After a minute or two, he twisted a dial with his paw. A low vibration came through the floor, rising in pitch. When it held steady, Red punched another button.

The lights flickered and came on, though half of them shorted out immediately in showers of sparks. They revealed a room that was once apparently a secondary control room for the Shin-Ra building. It was wall-to-wall computers, with several places where the ceiling had collapsed, spilling rubble onto the floor. A door on one side of the room was marked 'stairway' and had an arrow pointing up.

The illumination also revealed the creature sharing the room with them. It was ten feet tall and had skin that resembled granite. It had apparently been sneaking up on them, because it was about three feet away from Cloud. The monstrosity bellowed in rage and hammered Cloud with a massive fist. He flew across the room, slamming into the wall and sliding limply to the floor, leaving a body-shaped impression in the soundproofed metal. His sword clattered noisily on the floor beside him.

It took the team a second to realize that arguably one of their best fighters had just been taken out. That gave the creature the second it needed to backhand Cid back out the hole they came in. A dull thud signaled his meeting with the heavy pipe wall.

That snapped Barret out of his shock. "You bastard!" He bellowed, opening up with his Gatling gun. The bullets slammed into the creature's stomach, pushing it back but not penetrating its thick hide. It bellowed back and advanced into the hail of lead.

A ball of red fur, teeth, and claws pounced on the creature and immediately slid off as Red was unable to find any purchase on its stony exterior. He succeeded in distracting it for a second, though, as it stopped its advance to shrug him off, tossing him into an expensive piece of computer hardware.

"Take this, you meanie!" Cait Sith shouted. From nowhere, a double line of tiny soldiers appeared and advanced toward the enemy, firing their tiny weapons. The creature didn't even pause as it ground them underfoot.

Barret looked over at Tifa, the only one yet to join the battle. She was kneeling, with both hands in front of her, palms pressed together, deep in concentrating. Still blasting away with his gun, he bellowed at her. "Not to rush you, Teef, but we could sure use some help about now!"

The monster came closer, roaring in defiance. Barret began backing away, still unloading lead at it. Cait was fumbling with Materia, trying to find one that would work on the creature. Red was nowhere to be seen. Barret backed up another step, and felt the cool metal of the wall at his back. Then, his gun clicked empty.

"Oh, shit." Barret fumbled at his belt for a reload while ejecting the spent magazine. He knew he'd never make it. The beast drew back its fist, preparing a blow that he knew would put him out of the fight. "Tifa! Help!"

Tifa's eyes opened, a flame burning in their depths. Smoothly, she rose to her feet. One hand fell away while the other formed a fist before her. The rage and focus in her eyes seemed to transfer itself to her fist as it began to glow with an intense golden light. She took one step forward and drew her fist back. Another stride brought her to the beast's side. Its fist began to move forward as if it were in slow motion, still oblivious to her presence. A third step and she pistoned her fist into the creature's gut as hard as she could.

For Barret, it seemed like a blur. One moment, he was preparing to die, the next, Tifa was standing before him with one fist out, and the creature had made a new dent in the room. To his surprise, he saw a purple fluid seeping from a crack in the creature's midsection.

The monster levered itself out of the dent in the wall, but Tifa gave it no respite. She was on it in a flash, hammering it with her fists, spin kicking it, power driving it, and generally giving it hell. Finally, she drew back her fist and the same energy burst into being around it in a nimbus so bright it hurt the eyes.

"Leave my friends alone, beast! Final Heaven!" She screamed, slamming the creature again in its vulnerable gut and finally blowing it through the wall and back into the pipe. It slammed into the wall and slumped there, not moving. Purple ichor flowed down its skin and mixed with the scummy water in the pipe. Tifa dusted off her hands and turned around. Barret was staring at her.

"What?" She asked, as if beating the stuffing out of a ten-foot rock monster was an everyday occurrence for her. Barret shut his jaw. Of course, not that long ago it would have been an everyday occurrence to him, too, but a few months of trying to rebuild his town had apparently softened him up.

"Remind me to never make you mad." He muttered, and they turned to attend to their teammates. Red, realizing that his natural weapons would be useless here, had already been casting Life on Cloud, so all Cloud needed was a couple of cure spells. A similar treatment got Cid on his feet, and they all went back into the room.

Cloud rubbed the back of his head and grimaced, looking at the creature that Tifa had downed. "I do hope there aren't any more of them."

"Think that's what scared off every other critter?" Cid asked, stretching his shoulder where an old war wound became stiff every time he was magically healed.

"I sure hope so. Tifa was the only one that could even put a dent in it." Barret said. "If there's anything worse, we're gonna have to hightail it out of here."

Cloud grimaced again. "Much as I hate to say it, I think you're right." He turned around and indicated the stairs. "Cait, will you do the honors?"

"Sure thing, boss!" Cait cheerfully hopped over to the door and pushed it open. The cat part of his body jumped through the opening and looked around.

"All clear!" It said, hopping back on the mog's head. Cait pushed the door open the rest of the way and went through, the rest of the team following.

* * *

"Lookit that!" Barret whistled appreciatively. They had reached the site of the crash, and an impressive sight greeted them. The spacecraft that had landed was vaguely boat-shaped and fully as large as the freighter that made the run between Junion and Costa del Sol. It had crashed into the back of the building and was half-buried in rubble, but the sunlight shining in through the ruined glass made the scene of the destruction eerily beautiful.

"Shall we go investigate?" Red asked, indicating a breach in the skin of the craft near the bottom.

"Lead on." Cloud said. The group moved toward the opening, but Cloud stopped when he heard something metallic bounce off of his boot. Following the rolling sound, he spotted the culprit: a very elongated bullet jacket. He stopped and picked it up.

"What is it, Cloud?" Tifa asked. The entire team had stopped and was looking at him. He held up his find.

Barrett frowned. "Say, isn't that…?"

* * *

The child moved through the darkness, at one with the night. It was seeking something. What exactly it was seeking it wasn't sure, but it would know it when he came across it. It moved swiftly across the grasslands, shifting from shadow to shadow. The creatures that roamed these lands it avoided easily, they weren't its goal.

Then, a new smell crossed its nose. It intrigued the child, and it followed it. Soon, it saw strange shapes on the horizon, a lot of them. The smell was coming from there. It slunk into the midst of them, and realized that they were not the source of the smell, it was instead emanating from inside the shapes. Reasoning that if there was something in the shapes that there must be a way to get to that something, it picked a shape and walked all around it.

Finally, it chose its point of entry. The relatively soft wood gave easily before the child and it slipped into the darkness. It followed the smell into the structure, stalking the object of its curiosity like a feral cat, until it passed through one final wooden panel and found a creature shaped like itself lying on a padded surface. The child leaned over the creature, curious. The man's eyes snapped open, and he started up in surprise at a stranger leaning over him. The child's instincts took over, and the man only managed to get out one noise of surprise.


	8. And the Mystery Man is

Author's Note: Once again, the hounds of school and responsibility have claimed my time, making my update later than I wished. However, that appears to have given several people time to review, which makes me a very happy author. So, without further ado…

Shout-outs:

X-Over: Thanks for the help with the ship's structure. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find pictures of the Bebop on the Net.

Shine-Avalon: Thank you for the complement. I've been meaning to poop over and read your stuff since you reviewed, but I've been busy. See my apology above. But, never fear, I will read it soon.

hoheehum: You guessed right, it is him. He's not going to make an appearance just yet, but all will be explained soon.

metgear5: I'm glad you like the story. I figured that rude's pride as a martial artist would prompt him to want to fight Spike evenly, with as little magical help as possible.

Thanks to: Zack M. Strith

* * *

Cloud held up the elongated bullet jacket he'd picked up off the ground. Barret frowned. "Isn't that…?"

Cloud nodded. "It seems that way." Flipping the casing over, he peered at the closed end. "6 x 5.65," He read. "Vincent was here."

"Or someone who uses the same caliber bullet as him." Tifa said. "Red, would you do the honors?"

Cloud offered the brass to the lion beast, who sniffed it delicately and immediately sneezed. "Gunpowder," he apologized. "But, Vincent definitely handled it. I don't smell anyone else on it, though."

"Hm, I guess he beat us here, then. But where is he?" Cloud started peering at their surroundings, hoping for a further clue as to their missing ally's whereabouts. Red put his nose to the ground. However, after several minutes, the search ended up yielding more questions than answers.

"The tracks aren't clear. I found a bunch of cigarette butts ground out on the floor, but the stink of them made it impossible to recognize any scents. All I can tell you is that there were definitely a bunch of humans here, and one dog."

"Did they come from the ship?" Cloud asked. He'd spotted a couple partial boot prints in the dust, but nothing he could identify either.

Red shook his head in confusion. "I'm not sure. They definitely have been in and out, but I don't know if they came from the ship or somewhere else."

"Okay." Cloud nodded. The unknowns were piling up hip deep but there was nothing more to be learned here. He turned towards the ship. It was larger up close than he had thought. It was shaped roughly like a boat's keel in the front, the prow sloping down in a sharp point and topped with what could only be described as a deck. Above it was a mammoth pair of doors easily wide enough to walk the whole team into standing abreast. A third level swooped slightly forward and was mostly round viewports.

Further back, the main 'boat' of the ship was flanked by a truly massive set of engines with a pair of fins mounted on the sides. The whole ship lay in a bed of rubble, with its nose pointed vaguely at the sky and tilted over on its side at about fifteen degrees. The middle section of the ship was covered in rubble, nearly completely obscuring its engine intake ports. Even if they had wanted to, it was unlikely that the ship would be able to fly out of here under its own power.

Red pulled Cloud out of his reverie. "Come, I'll show you where they went in."

They followed Red to the rear of the ship, to where a sizeable crack appeared in the hull. It was actually on the opposite side of the ship, granting the party a better look at the underside of the massive vessel. The underside of the hull was blackened and pitted with the heat of reentry. At several locations, small, jagged holes appeared in the hull, some with slagged lumps of metal attached by nearly melted wires.

Cid whistled appreciatively. "They blew off the attitude jets. No wonder they crashed."

The rest of the group looked at him oddly. "What?"

"What's an attitude jet?" Cait asked. Cid sighed, but explained anyway.

"With a normal plane, you control it with flaps on the wings and tail that you move to change the way that air's flowing over them." hegestured with his hands, indicatingthe motion of said flaps. "They're called control surfaces. But, in space, there's no air, so the control surfaces don't do a thing. You have to find a different force than air pressure to provide a turning force on the ship. The answer is to build miniature rockets on the sides of the ship. That's what an attitude jet is."

"Sorry I asked." Barret grumbled, his disinclination towards technology already well known to the group.

"So they couldn't steer at all?" Tifa asked. Cid lit a cigarette and shook his head.

"Not all of them blew. I spotted a few intact ones on the other side. Even so, it would be like flying with a dead elephant strapped to your back."

"Oh," Tifa said in a small voice. If that was true, then the pilot had done very well to get the ship landed and in as good of shape as it was in. Cid tucked his lighter away and scooped up his spear. "Now, can we go in?"

Cait Sith looked at Cid, and then abruptly did a double take. Both his robotic mouths gaped open. Cid gave him a funny look. "Whassa matter? Never seen a man smoke before?"

Barret turned around at this and followed Cait's gaze. He visibly paled. "Uh, we need to go."

"What?" Cid turned around to see another of the rock monsters that they had faced down in the control room approaching. He grinned. "Oh, good! Payback!"

Tifa touched his arm. "No, we need to go, Cid." She pointed. Another was coming around the side of the ship, and a third was rising from the rubble off to the other side. Suddenly, the green glow of their inhuman eyes took on a very sinister hue. There was no doubt in Cid's mind that they knew that their group had killed one of their kind in the basement, and the payback handed out would not be his. As he watched, a fourth rose from the pile, the rocks seemingly coming to life to form the thing's body.

The first picked up a rock and its whole hand seemed to catch fire, green flames billowing from its fist. It hurled the missile at them, its aim fortunately off. The flaming boulder slammed into the ship, making a metallic thud and leaving a scuff and small dent in its wake. Cid, seeing the second picking up a rock, abruptly rethought his earlier enthusiasm. "Right, now's a good time to run away."

He turned to face the group, only to see Red, the last of them, disappearing into the crack. "Hey, wait for me!"

Cid sprinted for the crack, tossing his spear hilt-first into the crack and diving into the narrow entrance. He ducked and rolled, coming up short and very nearly bowling over Barret, who dodged aside at the last minute. Even so, his legs slammed painfully into the opposite bulkhead in the cramped space. He was rewarded, however, with another heavy thud as the second rock impacted the hull just to the side of the crack.

"Oh, gawd, you had to go and wake them up, didn't you? I was just about to sneak out of here, but nooooo, you had to wake them up." Cid sighed. He knew that voice.

"Hello, Yuffie," he said, "It's nice to see you too."

* * *

"So, what are you doing here, anyway, Yuffie?" Barret asked. They had moved away from the crack just in case one of the creatures decided to throw a rock small enough to actually fit inside. The room they now inhabited was a smaller tunnel like space. Heavy technology that none of them had seen before laced the walls, and a green glow emerged from a crack in some plating. It had obviously been pried open further, and what looked to be a metal bar could be seen glowing in the machine's depths. A door with a keypad stood at the other end of the room.

"I came to rescue the survivors, of course. It was a long, hard climb, but I made it. Of course, it was a wasted trip. There aren't any survivors."

"What do you mean, no survivors?" This was Cloud, his blue eyes glowing eerily in the dim light. "How do you know?"

"Well, if there were survivors, they would have opened this door by now, DUH." She said, jerking her thumb towards the closed door. "I tried knocking three times." Barret snorted in disbelief.

"So why didn't you leave?" Tifa asked, the brown glow of her own eyes peering at her.

"I had to wait for Big, Dumb, and Rocky out there to go to sleep. No way I could sneak past all five."

"Five? We only saw three." Red replied.

"Four, I spotted another as I was getting out." Cid said. Red shrugged and turned his attention back to Yuffie.

"There's another in the basement. He's the runt of the litter." She said with negligent wave of her hand.

"Well, then there's only four. Teef here took out that one when we came up." Barret indicated Tifa with a nod of his head. Yuffie's jaw dropped. "You mean you actually…" She shut it on whatever she was going to say, embarrassed to have broken her cool façade. Tifa just nodded.

Yuffie snapped back to her old poker face with a snap, blowing off Tifa's accomplishment with a careless shrug. "Whatever. What really kept me here is this." She pointed at the cracked housing. "Did you know this thing runs on Materia? I've been trying to get it out. I don't know what it does, but it's so big and such a strange shape it's got to be powerful. Saay, Cloud," she batted her eyelashes at him, "you've always been good with Materia. Can you figure out what it does?"

Cloud shrugged. It couldn't hurt to try, so he walked over to the damaged component and peered inside. Concentrating, he peered into its depths, sending his mind deeply into it. Normally, there was a pathway, a way into the Materia, that the user would follow to the core of the Materia where the power was found and released. This time, though, he couldn't find it. "I'm not sure this is actually Materia, Yuffie. It seems like something else."

"Pleease try?" She begged. Cloud sighed, but he knew that she would be hell on earth unless he at least made a show of effort, so he turned back to the item and tried to send his consciousness into it, not looking for a path this time but simply barging through to where the core should be. He found power, all right, but this was no normal magic. This power writhed and flowed, expanding and bursting at the seams to be let out. It dragged at the edges of his mind, trying to pull him apart and trying to become part of him at the same time, eroding the outer layers of his mental defenses like paper and heading for his inner self. Panicking, he tried to pull away, only to discover he was stuck there, like a fly in honey. The power was gnawing at the middle layers of shielding. After this, only one fragile protective layer of his mind lay between him and the power trying to sunder his being. He pulled again, and felt the tiniest give.

He pulled harder, straining with all of his might to break away, to save his inner self. The power's grip gave slowly, very slowly, wanting to consume him and everything around him. He strained against it, tapping reserves of mental strength he didn't know he had. It struggled with him, vying strength for strength, but he had the advantage. He knew that it could be beaten, and so he ripped the clinging tendrils of the hostile energy away from his psyche, and finally broke free with an almost audible snap.

Cloud came back to himself, breathing hard. "Are you okay, man?" Yuffie peered worriedly at him. "You don't look so good."

Cloud reached out and closed the housing as much as possible. "That's definitely not Materia, Yuffie." He was secretly proud that his voice didn't falter. Licking his lips to bring moisture to a mouth suddenly dry, he said, "I don't know what that is, but it's more dangerous than Materia, and mostly to the wielder. We should leave."

Turning, he looked to Cid. "You're the electronics genius, can you open that door?"

"I'm a pilot, not an electrician," Cid grumbled, but he moved to the keypad anyway. He frowned, peering at the unfamiliar technology, muttering to himself around his cigarette for several minutes. "Here goes nothin'," he said, raising one hand to the keypad. Cloud noted that the fingers of his other hand were crossed. Cid's finger stabbed the green button on the top row, and the door hissed open.

Cid turned around, a smirk on his lips. "The mighty ninja master couldn't do that?" He asked.

"Shaddup." Yuffie brushed past him, slipping into the ship proper. She fell into a crouch and looked for enemies, instinctively blending with the shadows. Finding nothing and no one, she gestured for the rest of the team to proceed. Whatever her boasts and kleptomanic tendancies towards Materia, Yuffie was undeniably a good scout.

AVALANCHE moved through an odd ring device that appeared to go up and around the ship and into a kitchen. Slipping past the two-burner stove and the row of woks of assorted sizes, they entered the obvious main living area. A further search yielded four bedrooms, one obviously female by the underwear lying in a heap in the corner, and up the stairs lay a training area and the ship's bridge, lit only by a dim red glow.

However, it was the last area that they explored that was of the greatest interest. A non-descript door that they had earlier taken for a janitorial closet lead instead into the biggest part of the ship, a hangar that was nearly as long as the rest of the ship. At one end lay the massive double doors that they had spotted on their way in. At the other end lay three ships. One was shaped like a T and painted construction yellow. The cockpit was shaped like a bubble, and appeared to open vertically. The second was painted an even gunmetal grey and appeared new. Large, weapon like protrusions extended in four pincers around the cockpit, also bubble shaped, though this one was entered from the side.

It was the last one that made Cid stop and whistle. It was painted red and immaculately clean, though obviously not new. It was a fighter type, with a long nose and wings that folded over the cockpit when not in use. A long weapon was slung underneath the nose, and an incredibly large engine spoke of more than enough power to suck the eyeballs out of a pilot's head. It's every line spoke of speed, power, and grace.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just found our ticket out of here." Cid declared, staring in awe at the craft before him.


End file.
